More renovations than just the house

This was, in the beginning, the half door leading downstairs. We did some renovation, walling in the openning and installing the door. My office was packed away because i didn't need it due to the lay-off (read lowest picture verbage) making it a bedroom again and the hall and great room were painted. Some electrical work was performed. The laundry equipment was moved upstairs (I think illustrated in earlier post) and changed into a bedroomCustom bunkbeds were built using youth matresses purchased from IKEA in Charlotte, NC. (Editorial note: During this project we have visited the IKEA stores in Minneapolis, MN, Atlanta, GA and Charlotte, NC)

Also note the trim, this will be what the rest of the trim will look like.

The final room to get new hardwood flooring installed...... All trim in this room and the other guest bedroom has been installed and rooms are now functional again.

A new ceiling fan was installed in the master which is good seeing as the installer of the flooring, while walking through this room with a piece of lumber, accidentally hit the fan breaking a fan blade off which, in effect, put it out of commission. (Writer of this blog post is also the installer of the floor.)

Moving furniture by ones self justified the purcahse of this 'way cool' mover's dolly. Please also note the product of not keeping track of the location of the saw cord. This is also justification for having more than one skill saw (the worker on this project has 3 skill saws)

Several other tools that are required for a project like this. The pneumatic flooring nailer became invaluable and a gr8 assett. Knee pads should be owned by anyone who even may have to get up and down (they are cheap and REALLY save your knees). The industrial dust pan is also required and makes the job site appear legitimate.

In order to run the flooring perpendicular to the direction it would be going in the hall from the foyer it rmoving the floor to the joists was required to install adequate support for said new floor. This pic illustrates the master bedroom and hall.
Looks major doesn't it..... It was, got'r done though by myself

Peeling away the partical board which needed to be done prior to the installation of the new floor.

Okay, so this isn't part of the renovation project but thought that as the blog is titled renovations and 'ADDITIONS' I could justify this photo. Because I was laid off (and subsequently forced to retire) (notified 1/15/09 - officially retired 4/1/09). No more company car, gas card, laptop, free broad-band, etc., etc., etc. I spent 3 1/2 weeks car shopping full time and ended up with this 2006 S2000 with 28k miles on it. Lighter than a Boxer but with same speed and handling also comes with Honda reliability. We have lots of fun with this car, just can't haul much lumber with it (thank god we still have the old truck!!)

Just a quick note

A belated HAPPY HOPIDAYS to all of our friends and loyal blog followers around the world. We do not send out cards but you all should know that you are on our minds and in our hearts. It is so great to have such a large amount of fantastic people in ones life, thank you all !!!!

Well we bascially met our goal of done by Xmas.... There is still much to do, some trim and finish work....

We had a busy end of the year hence the lack of photoes and attention to this blog. I promise to have some up shortly as we are much farther that the last post indicates. Washer and dryer are now in new laundry upstairs so we do not have to go up and down stairs to wash clothes. The 16 stitches have been removed (another renovation project story that may or may not be mentioned again on the blog). We had 20 people here on Xmas after dinner, we need to go for more and set a larger record next years so if you are reading this and know us you are invited so start planning on spending Xmas in South Carolina.

More later including pictures.

H & S

Half Bath Functional

The Christmas tree is up (pictures to follow in subsequent post when decorating is finished).

We have been out and about with lots of activities. One of which is the war against the beavers that have dammed up the over-flow for the pond/lake that we live on. It caused the level to rise approxiamtely 14" which put the base of about 8 of our big trees in water. After going and getting permits from the state and local police as well as getting permission to go on several peoples property I believe that we have a plan and the beaver will soon no longer reside in the city.

'Yahoo', (a cry of joy not the search engine) we have the 1/2 bath functional. This negates the need to walk approximately 75' from the new kitchen just in case nature calls.

Sandy found the mirror somewhere and it looks as though it is a perfect match to the small vanity we found at Lowes early one Saturday on our way to the Flea Market to buy fresh produce (that really doesn't sound good does it; flea market/fresh produce).
The room is quite small but the vanity allows for some storage and, even though a fantastic value, we think looks quite stunning.

A view as you open the door to the room. Drywall mud is a patch of screw holes where the toilet paper holder was wrongly located

The working end of this area.

Note the drywall mud on the back wall. This was done one Sunday evening when I was tiling and busted the water supply pipe that came out of the wall as the water spewed all over everywhere. Hans was running through the house yelling for Sandy to call the plumber and finally getting the water to the house shut off

The door which was installed yesterday, Sunday a.m. The trim that is shown came with the door but will be ripped off and replaced once the rest of the 'better' trim is purchased and prepped.

Functional by Thanksgiving, check that box

Last night Buzz and Ginny came over and Buzz hooked up our cooktop to the natural gas line that was run prior. I also powered up the dishwasher and ice maker. The kichen, except for the garbage disposal, is all working. There is still a lot to do but nothing that can't get done by Christmas.......................

Crown moulding up and new counter stools
Another pic of the type of stool, adjustable from 24" to 30" and will swivel

Faucet, spritzer and sink in island.

Icemaker wil new ice

There are 3 built in maple cutting boards. If anyone knows what to stain these with we would love to know.

Things, of importance, I didn't show you in last blog

The frig installed to make it look kinda built-in
TV to go on the top half of this cabinet, cd's and dvd's in slots below. Electronic in lower left (home theater, am/fm digital radio that I got almost a year ago when a reward points program transpired which I was just several points away from having enough for the TV (another story/another time). Bottom right cabinet is for books or whatever.

China cabinet with two drawers at the bottom was installed.


Here are all of the pieces of maple crown molding stained and varnished, ready to install at the top of the cabinets.

Vacation winds down / some appliances installed

The heat pump for the addition was commissioned this week and the new programmable thermostat and heat/air grills installed. It is nice to walk the entire length of the house (approximately 80') and not notice any temperature variation.

Wiring has been finished to the breaker box and all prior electric work has been finished (there is no more extension cord powering the frig in the garage !!)

We ran into a small issue for the floor in the new laundry and half bath area which is going to mean a change order (good thing that we are our own general contractor or this may have been an expensive one.) Bottom line is that we will be ripping out the floor in that area and replacing the old 1/2" sub-floor with new 3/4" plywood to give us a more substantial base for the 18" tile we will be laying.

The oven tower is installed and powered up as is the new frig. Sandy and I installed the oven ourselves on Friday p.m. using 4 empty tile adhesive buckets along with equal amounts of brute strength and awkwardness.

You may notice (from older posts) that the oven and frig cleaned up pretty good from sitting around waiting for this day.

The opening below the ovens is for a drawer to house oven type broiler pans, etc. The cabinet on the bottom and to the right of the ovens is for cookie racks, cake pans, etc.

The bottom oven is convectional, middle is a convection with a temperature probe if you wish to use it and the top is a microwave/convection combination oven.

Tile goes down / more progress made

This week I was on vacation and needed to get our rental in the country ready for the new renters b4 working on the kitchen project. Carpet was demoed from 2nd full bath and replaced with linoleum, carpet was cleaned, all new blinds installed, new front porch light installed and yard was cleaned up and mowed.

Gas plumbers came and installed gas lines for the cooktop, grill (on the deck) and downstairs fireplace. They where here all day Thursday. Their company called on Friday and said it would be $125 more than they quoted. Not happy about that but will deal with that when the invoice comes.

This is the saw that saved the day and weekend. Cuts tiles like butter...

Saw is sitting out on the deck. This is somewhat messy so will need to power wash when complete on this tile job.
Had to get the tile aligned around the island so that there wasn't a BIG issue..
Tile cut (by the gr8 saw) around the island

Most tile is in place in front of the island and cut for supply heat ducts. We are also now ready for the HVAC man to come and crank up the new heat pump for this room.
New tiles are 18" x 18" (2.25 sq. ft. each). Laid about 120 tiles so far this weekend. Will finish tiling kitchen tomorrow with all of the little ones that need to be sawn.
Most tile also on working side of island.
More behind the island